Ikea Founder Tells of Past

Published: November 9, 1994

STOCKHOLM, Nov. 8—
The founder of Ikea has sent a letter to 25,000 employees worldwide explaining his past involvement with pro-Nazi groups as a mistake of misguided youth, the big home furnishing chain said today.

Ingvar Kamprad, 68, was trying to head off fallout from reports this week by the Stockholm daily newspaper Expressen. The newspaper uncovered Mr. Kamprad's name in the archives of a Swedish pro-Nazi activist who died recently.

The archives showed Mr. Kamprad had attended a number of meetings and had befriended a leading extremist, Per Engdahl, starting in 1945 and extending into the 1950's.

The newspaper printed more details today, including the text of a 1950 note from Mr. Kamprad to Mr. Engdahl in which Mr. Kamprad said he was proud to be involved with the groups.

Mr. Kamprad admitted his involvement in a handwritten statement sent on Monday to 125 Ikea stores employing 25,000 people around the world, said his assistant, Staffan Jeppsson.

In the note, Mr. Kamprad called his activities "a part of my life which I bitterly regret."

He said he severed the contacts in the 1950's when he "realized this was a mistake." Mr. Kamprad denied he ever was a formal member of the rightist groups and said he was drawn to Mr. Engdahl's vision of a non-Communist, Socialist Europe.

Mr. Kamprad opened his first store in 1958, selling disassembled, good-quality, inexpensive furniture in a big warehouse-style stores. The company has grown worldwide and Mr. Kamprad is listed as one of Sweden's richest men.

Ikea stores operate in 26 countries, including 13 in the United States.